In a world where all of history occurred at once because River Song refused to kill the Doctor, Charles Dickens gave some details about his "new Christmas special" on TV, at 5:02pm 22 April2011, as that was always the time and date in that timeline. He said that it would involve ghosts and the past, the present and future, all at the same time. (TV: The Wedding of River Song)

Simon Callow who portrayed Charles Dickens in The Unquiet Dead, previously portrayed both Dickens and Ebenezer Scrooge in the 2001 animated Christmas Carol: The Movie. The movie began with a live-action sequence of Callow as Dickens performing a live reading.